The Israeli Defense Forces often calls the militants whose homes it intends to strike minutes before doing so, a way of minimizing the deaths of any women and children who might be inside. But the phone calls are no guarantee that innocents will be spared.

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The Israeli Defense Forces often calls the militants whose homes it intends to strike minutes before doing so, a way of minimizing the deaths of any women and children who might be inside. But the phone calls are no guarantee that innocents will be spared.

Nov. 26, 2012The sun sets on the Mediterranean Sea in Gaza City. An uneasy quiet has settled around the city as a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas holds after eight days of strikes in Gaza City.Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post

JERUSALEM — In a fiery speech Saturday before a mammoth rally in Gaza City marking the 25th anniversary of the founding of Hamas, Khaled Meshal, the political leader of the militant Islamist group, pledged that it would never recognize Israel and called for an Islamic Palestinian state on the territory of Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Meshal spoke during his first visit to Gaza, a triumphant tour after a recent eight-day war between Hamas and Israel, and 15 years after he survived an Israeli assassination attempt in Jordan.

A sea of green flags filled Katiba Square in Gaza City as Meshal and the Hamas prime minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, walked out of a giant replica of a long-range Hamas M-75 rocket set up on a stage with a mock-up of the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City.

Tens of thousands gathered for what was billed as both an anniversary and a victory celebration after last month’s conflict, during which Hamas fired rockets toward Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Meshal, who has led Hamas from exile, used the occasion to reiterate the group’s long-held principles, calling for “armed resistance” to eliminate Israel.

“Palestine, from the river to the sea, from north to south, is our land,” Meshal said, “Not an inch of it can be conceded.”

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Tunnels between Gaza and Egypt are back in business

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The primary commerce of Rafah, Egypt, focuses around the tunnel network that circumvents the Israeli blockade of Gaza, and business once again is booming.

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The primary commerce of Rafah, Egypt, focuses around the tunnel network that circumvents the Israeli blockade of Gaza, and business once again is booming.

Nov. 27, 2012 Tunnel digging has become a lucrative business for families along the Egyptian and Gaza border. Work along the area ceased during eight days of Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, but it resumed shortly after a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas took effect. Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post

“We cannot recognize the legitimacy of Israel’s occupation of Palestine,” he said. “There is no legitimacy to occupation, and therefore no legitimacy for Israel, no matter how long it will take.”

“Liberating Palestine, all of Palestine, is a duty, a right and a goal,” he added.

As for Jerusalem, “we will liberate it inch by inch, stone by stone, Islamic and Christian holy places,” he said. “Israel has no right in Jerusalem.”

The recent recognition of Palestine as a non-member observer state at the United Nations was a “small step but a good one,” Meshal said, but he asserted that armed action took precedence over diplomacy.

“Liberation first, then the state,” he said. “The real state is the product of liberation, not the product of negotiations.”

“Holy war and armed resistance are the real and right path to liberation and recovery of rights,” he declared, adding that that while diplomatic efforts could also serve the cause, they had “no value without resistance.”

Meshal’s message stood in stark contrast to the strategy of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who heads the rival Fatah faction that is dominant in the West Bank. Abbas led the successful U.N. bid, has negotiated with Israel and rejects violence.

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Life in the Palestinian territories

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Beyond the frequent images of violence and destruction, here are scenes from the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

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Beyond the frequent images of violence and destruction, here are scenes from the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Jan. 14, 2013Palestinian mothers hold pictures of their sons, who are in Israeli prisons, as they attend a protest at the offices of the International Red Cross in Gaza City. Reports state that the women are demanding the release of Palestinian prisoners held in the prisons.Ali Ali/European Pressphoto Agency

Still, Meshal urged Abbas to follow through with a reconciliation agreement signed last year between Hamas and Fatah, calling the U.N. vote a boost to faltering unity efforts.

After the reconciliation accord, Meshal endorsed a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and unarmed “popular struggle” advocated by Abbas, but he did not renounce violence or commit to ending the conflict with Israel once that state was achieved.

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Comments our editors find particularly useful or relevant are displayed in Top Comments, as are comments by users with these badges: . Replies to those posts appear here, as well as posts by staff writers.